


Murder, Madness, and Black Holes: A Guide to Founders-Era Gallifreyan History

by The_narwhals_awaken



Series: A Gallifreyan How-To [5]
Category: Doctor Who, Gallifrey (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Gen, Pseudo-History, Shobogans (Doctor Who), Time War (Doctor Who), War in Heaven (Doctor Who)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:21:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26715133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_narwhals_awaken/pseuds/The_narwhals_awaken
Summary: A quick jaunt through Gallifreyan history in the time of the Founders.  Including a closer look into the Founders themselves, as well as how regeneration came to be and what exactly happened with the Pythia.
Series: A Gallifreyan How-To [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1908952
Comments: 13
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

Greetings, and welcome to this guide. We’ve collected as many tales of history as we could, and compiled them into this guide. 

At last, the general population of the universe can have access to the legends of the Shobogans and how Regeneration came to be. At last, the tales of Rassilon, Omega, and the Other can be revealed. At last, the tales of the Pythian Curse and why it was placed can be spoken once more. 

As our legal team has dictated, these are all stories, passed down through judicious hacking, liberal application of alcohol and ginger, and quite a bit of bribery. There may be more that we haven’t covered, and more that we simply don’t know. Please don’t sue us or send angry letters, however, sending word of tales not included here will go into one of two places: either a collection of legends or a later edition of this guide. 

As previously stated, our mysterious editor was unfortunately helpful. However, instead of previous sabotage, they have merely joined some of our junior agents in spray-painting messages that are quite rude about one of the people mentioned in here. Please, for the love of sanity, can we get them to leave?


	2. The Shobogans; Or, How Regeneration Came To Be

The Shobogans were the original inhabitants of Gallifrey, and while their numbers have decreased, they are still found in the scrublands, farming or wandering, a fairly self-sufficient class who heavily dislike the Time Lords, considering them egotistical. hypocritical, lazy, and power-hungry. Even the best often look down on them, and they don’t care. 

However, they are some of the best storytellers, with a long oral tradition that stretches back to their beginnings on the planet. One of their favorite stories is the legend of Teucetun, a tale that marks the turning point from Pythian rule to the beginning of the rise of the Time Lords.

Legend says that Teucetun was a scientist, in one of the biggest Shobogan settlements at the time. Frequently, she’d go out, scouring the planet for new things to study or for more samples to test. Her most recent set of trips was investigating a natural rift in space-time, now theorized to be the Untempered Schism, but she returned early. She had found a child out there in the wastes, and for a time took them in and raised them as her own. 

The child had no name, and seemed adrift. When the Pythia of the time came to see them, she simply stared. The child was entangled in time, a heavy point. Their timelines were flexible and longer than any she’d ever seen or heard of, but most of them were shrouded far beyond her ability to see. It is said, much quieter, that the child looked back, and decided that they liked the Pythia, and so did nothing to stop her from looking. 

For a time, the child lived normally, until one day, they were running, playing, and they fell off a cliff. The cliff had taken other children, and seemed to be ready to take them as well, until they regenerated. Now, such a thing had not been seen before on the planet, and Teucetun was curious. She did many experiments and tests on the child, eventually figuring out how to grant unto others the ability to regenerate. 

Now, here the story blurs. General opinion is that the testing took a long time, and her first test subject was herself, and then she lived for many lifetimes in quiet obscurity, before rising in another face and name. Others say her knowledge was stolen by others, while others say it’s a mix of both. We have no confirmation either way, 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my lovelies, and welcome back to my fifth installment! Hope you're enjoying this.   
> If you have any Gallifreyan fairy tales or legends you'd like me to examine in a later work, or a view on a Renegade that you'd like to share, or anything else, leave a comment!
> 
> Even plain 'I liked this, good job' comments keep me posting and writing!


	3. Rassilon: Founder, Leader, Thief?

While much about his beginnings is unknown, this much is confirmed. We know that he was a stellar engineer and from a reasonably high-ranked family, and thus expected to serve in politics for a time. 

It is said that he had a friend in a researcher, his name lost to the ages, and now known as Omega. They were visionaries of their time, attempting to figure out the secrets of time travel. Exact dates are unknown, but a third figure joined them to help solve their problems- their name is unknown to this day, and all we know of them is their alias: the Other. 

The three continued their work until it was interrupted by the War in Heaven, where Omega gained his pseudonym. After the war, life settled back down, and the breakthrough was made. Time travel was then possible, although at the cost of Omega.

The Pythian Order were overthrown, with the last Pythia of the Order uttering the Pythian Curse, elaborated on later in this work. To replace them, Rassilon rose to prominence. 

For a time, time travel was given freely and somewhat abused- taking members of promising species and pitting them against each other. Eventually, the Other put a stop to this, combining forces with Rassilon to anchor the Web of Time, one of the last things they would be known for. 

After losing both of his friends, Rassilon pushed for a greater control over the universe, stepping back and not giving out time-travel technology anymore. Eventually, he was replaced and overthrown, captured in his tomb where he laid in stasis until then-President Borusa freed him, although he was not fully brought back until the last days of the Time War. 

Here, our records get spotty. The Time War, by its nature, was a horribly chaotic mess, with the event chain the only thing keeping it from spilling backwards any further than it did. However, scholars are fairly certain of this timeline: while brought back, he was not immediately put in charge. There was an odd period where his goals were focused on defeating the Enemy- mostly the Daleks, although there were other options- including the Zagreus incident. All our files of that era, especially that incident, were heavily shredded, but our backups are still safe. During this period, something happened to shift his goals. We don’t know what happened, but it shifted his goals towards the Ultimate Sanction. This would have removed the bodies of all Time Lords and made them creatures of pure consciousness, possibly destroying the universe in the process. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, hello once more! We're starting to get into the Founders!
> 
> Leave a comment and tell me what you like!


	4. Omega: the Murdered Scientist

Omega was one of the greatest scientists of the Time Lords. He was the one that pushed them over the edge of time travel.

While childhood friends with Rassilon, neither pushed for time travel as more than an idea until later in life. However, it remained mostly theoretical until after the War in Heaven.

The War in Heaven allowed for greater political status for all three Founders, each of them put into positions of power. They were all in charge of a battalion, although each of them had different focuses. Rassilon was an excellent general, leading his troops well and pulling off impossible battles. Omega was an inventor even then, making new weapons and refining the Bowships till they were near-perfect. The Other was a strategist, pulling off campaigns and pushing back the Enemy. Here Omega gained his nickname, arriving last to a battle to provide critical reinforcements and push back the King.

After the War and the Pythian Curse, Omega and the Other started pulling back from Rassilon, afraid of his ambition and his schemes. However, they kept working on time travel. Eventually, they were ready to try and set up the main part- creating and balancing the Eye of Harmony, a dying star on the verge of going nova, stuck in time forever to draw power off of. 

Unfortunately, something went wrong. The Eye was placed and stabilized, but Omega. For a long time, the common thought was mechanical failure had killed him. However, later havoc revealed that he had in fact been sucked into an antimatter universe. Omega adapted, but was driven slightly mad with his desire to return to his home universe. Records are uncertain if he died or not, however, he was resurrected for a time to fight in the Time War. He did not make it to the end, as he was still trying to destroy the universe and his timeline was altered so that he was never resurrected.


	5. The Other: Ghost of a Trickster

Of the three founders, we know the least about the Other. All records about them were purged, and the only reason we even know they exist is records in the other Founders’ journals. 

From the beginning of the few records we have, they were a meddler. While the Pythia was killed by Rassilon after delivering her curse, the Other quietly snuck the other Pythian Sisters to the nearby planet of Karn, where they remain to this day. 

It is said that they were the ones who introduced the concept of dimensional transcendentalism to Rassilon, allowing the first TT capsules to be grown. These capsules would later become the more modern TARDIS, an acronym supposedly come up with by the Other’s granddaughter. 

While in the War in Heaven, they rarely went on the field, preferring to stay back and plan and direct strategy, however, they were often sent on stealth missions, and were quite skilled in combat. 

After the War, they joined Omega in stepping back from Rassilon and his upcoming tyranny, helping Omega finish his stellar manipulator, later known as the Hand of Omega, and continuing planning for the future. 

After Omega’s disappearance, they stepped even further back. They founded the CIA to maintain the Web of Time by maintaining history. While some say that they’ve lost their way, each Coordinator has access to the plans that the Other made for the direction of the Agency. 

The legends are clearest on their death. After somehow angering Rassilon- perhaps by planning, perhaps simply by existing- they were chased by his guards. After getting their granddaughter to the spaceport, they led the guards on a chase, ending up over the center distributor for genetic material for the Looms. Once cornered by the guards, instead of coming quietly and ending up murdered and used as a lesson, they threw themselves in. Legends suggest that they have been reincarnated, but nobody is willing to confirm this. The era is only known due to the large surge of Renegades, carrying twisted fragments of their ideals. Regardless, they are now dead in their original form and they were not free for comment. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, hello once more! I'm doing well, as the surge of other works can attest. 
> 
> Shameless self-promotion: I have another series, called Rusty Lake: Perspective. It gives insight into the characters in the Cube Escape and Rusty Lake games. Look them up! If you've seen/heard/played them before, go and read them and tell me what you like! If you haven't, go and try them! Point-and-click horror games, with an intriguing storyline. 
> 
> Please leave a comment if you enjoyed! They help keep future works in this series moving along!


	6. The Pythia and her Curse

The Pythian Order were the leaders of Gallifrey until the Rise of the Time Lords, shortly after the end of the War in Heaven. The Pythia was the leader of the Order.

The Pythian Order were somewhat precognitive, seeing the future and leading the Gallifreyans through time, heading the worship of the Menti Celesti- five deities of the Universe in the Dark Times: Pain, Time, Death, Life, and Fate. Time was obviously the head for the ancient Gallifreyans, but all five were revered and respected. They were pillars of the community, helping those who needed it. 

After the War in Heaven, Rassilon’s position, especially with Omega and the Other at his side, was strong enough that he led a revolution against the Pythians. He promised to lead his new Time Lords into the future, combined with the wartime introduction of regeneration, to conquer the timestreams. The Pythia warned against that, that it would only lead to the planet’s destruction. In some ways, she was right.

Rassilon did not listen to her warnings, instead choosing to capture her to kill her in front of the rest of the Order. However, he was so focused on killing her that the Other was able to sneak the rest of the Order out, getting them safely to Karn, along with what would become the Eternal Flame and records of regeneration. 

As the Pythia was hauled into position, she cursed the Time Lords with sterility. Although the exact wording of the curse was unknown, records, as well as brain and body chemistry suggest that either normal Gallifreyans were not affected or adapted faster, overcoming the curse much earlier. 

The remnants of the Order became known as the Sisterhood of Karn, rearising to help deal with Morbius in his bid for immortality, but staying distant. 

The Sisterhood have excellent records, and were willing to deal well with us to help us make this guide. While they frown on males being present, they will treat well with females or males who prove their trustworthiness. 

One of their biggest helps was letting us know which records were trustworthy and which were edited to make people look better. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Extra chapter cos it's the weekend! Tomorrow morning, we'll finish out this installment- and once more, my pre-written work. If you want me to talk about stuff, please leave a comment and I'll get to work! My NaNoWriMo for this year is going to be a collection of works, so any bit of inspiration helps!


	7. The War In Heaven: The Time War- Wait, No, Not That One

The War in Heaven was a Time War. Not the Last Great Time War, but a Time War nonetheless. The Enemy there was the Ysgarroth, also known as the Great Vampires. 

History of a Time War is, obviously, difficult, but possible. The origins are unknown precisely, but it is suggested that it was Gallifreyans meddling with black holes that let the Ysgarroth through to this universe. 

It is very hard to kill a Ysgarroth. Lower ones need to be stabbed through the heart, usually with a metal rod. Higher ones need the heart fully destroyed.

In order to combat the Ysgarroth, the Gallifreyans developed Bowships. These ships could fire large metal rods, the largest able to take out a King Vampire. 

The war raged over eras and galaxies, won due to a few factors. One, Rassilon introduced regeneration, allowing soldiers to serve for longer. Two, Omega kept putting new weaponry and technology in place, allowing the soldiers more advantages and tools. Three, the Other kept information flowing and could point campaigns accurately to their best effect and minimum casualty rate. 

Eventually, the War came to an end. All but one Ysgarroth was killed, and that last King was trapped back from whence it’d come. A false planet was put in place to keep it sealed there, and after said planet died, the supernova that would kill it would maintain the seals until the universe was dead enough that the Ysgarroth wouldn’t fit anyways. 

However, there were lasting effects. The lack of morality in war would remain unfortunate precedents until Gallifrey’s death in the Last Great Time War. All Gallifreyans would have an instinctual hatred and aversion to the Ysgarroth, ensuring that fights would be won easier. The creation of Newblood houses set one of the challenges for politics until the Time War. Faction Paradox began one of its starting points there, although they eventually knotted up their own timelines enough that they destroyed themselves. 

The War is one of the worst eras for records, but it is interesting to compare it to what we know of the Last Great Time War. One of our grad students did her thesis on the comparison and got her Master’s that way, costing us time but ensuring that we’d have an expert on staff. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so we have come to the end of another wonderful story! Thank you to everyone who read, commented, or left a kudo!
> 
> Another story will be coming whenever I get it written. Be warned that next month, I'm doing NaNoWriMo, so there will be many updates from many areas of my interest. Good luck!


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